You can have a lot of fun with photos just by messing with the coloring and give them an old time or spooky (since it was just Halloween) feeling. Here’s a photo of my niece dressed as Snow White. And beside it is what my finished product will be after the bleaching.
Open a portrait (or anything, really). Add a new Adjustment Layer from the Layers menu and choose B&W from the dialogue box. You can try selecting a preset, or adjust the colors to get an effect that you like.
In the layers pallet, reduce the opacity of the adjustment layer just a little so that only a hint of color bleeds through.
Select your background layer and adjust the curves (either in from the image menu, or from the layers pallet click the icon that looks like a black and white cookie). You want to make an S curve, but a very lean one. Pull it out about 3/4 from the top, but not too far. Same for the shadows (bottom of the S curve).
With the curves layer selected, click the mask (white box attached to it). Then use the paint bucket tool and click on the image with black. (Black conceals, white reveals). Your image should have lightened up a bit.
